SANTIAGO Aug 31 (Reuters) - A Chilean union that represents
copper mine workers rejected a move by Freeport-McMoRan Inc to
drastically cut staff at its El Abra mine and said on Monday it
was considering action.

Last week, Arizona-based Freeport, which owns a 51
percent stake in the mine in northern Chile, became one of the
first big global miners to announce it was slashing production
because of slumping copper prices.

That would include reducing mining rates at El Abra by about
50 percent to cut and defer costs, and extend the mine's life,
the company said.

Over the weekend Freeport began to send out letters
announcing the dismissals and refusing to negotiate, said Juana
Mejias, who heads the mine's local union, adding that around 700
workers were being fired.

"The situation is complex and a true massacre that they have
carried out by dismissing 50 percent of the workforce," she said
in a statement on Monday.

However, a spokesman for Freeport said that termination
notices had not yet been issued.

"Plans for reductions in the workforce are being developed,"
he said.

Gustavo Tapia, head of the Chile Mining Federation union,
dismissed the fall in the copper price as a "cyclical
issue" and said multinational companies had sufficient profits
to ride it out.
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